Exhibition Matches at the Olympic Qualifier this Saturday

It has been brought to my attention that between Qualification Rounds/ Repechage, and the finals on Saturday that There is going to be Texas youth and Texas High School matches wrestling exhibition, its real unclear just who is going to wrestle, but rumor has it that 2x State Champs Dalton Miller and Luke Hodsden might square off, its not confirmed though. There will be some Allen Youth and High School wrestlers there, I think Frisco wrestlers are involved as well, believe it will be Freestyle and not Folkstyle. Also Allen’s Coach Best will be recognized before the finals. More information will be provided as I can find out. Iam sure though this is another reason to come watch the Action this weekend and show the World that Texas supports wrestling.

Below is the Preview from USA Wrestling

By Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling | March 02, 2016, 11:57 a.m. (ET)

Olympian and two-time World medalist Tervel Dlagnev, a Dallas-area native, returns home to battle for Olympic qualification at 125 kg.

For three days, TheMat.com will post a preview for each style for the Pan American Olympic Games Qualifier, which will be hosted at the Dr. Pepper Arena in Frisco, Texas, March 4-6. We will do one daily in the order in which each style will be contested in Frisco.

We started with women’s freestyle yesterday, which will be held on Friday, March 4. Today, we preview the men’s freestyle competition, which is set for Saturday, March 5.

Countries may only enter athletes in weight classes where they have not yet qualified for the Olympics. The champion and runner-up in each weight class will qualify their nation to compete at that weight class at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in August.

At the 2015 World Championships, the United States qualified two weight classes (74 kg, 97 kg). No other Pan American nation qualified for the Rio Olympics through the 2015 World Championships.

Team USA will have four entries in this competition. We will do a preview of each weight class competition below.

57 kg/125.5 lbs.

The United States will enter two-time World Team member Tony Ramos at this weight. This is Ramos’ first time at a Senior-level Pan American event. Ramos has expanded his international experience the last three years, since deciding to pursue the Olympic dream after winning his NCAA title for Iowa in 2014.

There is only one wrestler in the field with a current UWW World ranking, Cuba’s Yowles Bonne who comes in at No. 8 in the new March rankings. Bonne was third in the 2014 World Championships up at 61 kg and made the move down last year to 57 kg. He won the 2015 Pan American Games at his new weight class, but did not medal at the 2015 World Championships. Making this weight is tough for Bonne, who actually wrestled at 65 kg at the Pan American Championships last weekend, taking a bronze. He has also won Pan American Championships golds in 2005 and 2012.

Ramos is not ranked in the world this month, but has been in many previous months during his time at the Senior level. He battled Bonne in last year’s World Cup, losing by fall, and in the 2015 Beat the Streets event in Times Square, where he lost by technical fall.

No Pan American nation has qualified for Rio at this weight class. Colombia’s Wber Cuero was second at the Pan American Championships last week up at 61 kg, and Pedro Mejias of Venezuela also won a bronze up at 61 kg. None of the competitors in this tournament have won a Pan American gold medal except Bonne, although a number of the entries have medalled at past Pan Am events.

This weight class will be one of the most competitive in the tournament, even though no Pan American nations were able to qualify for the Olympics through the 2015 World Championships. The United States is entering four-time World Team member Brent Metcalf at this weight. He has competed in three different Pan American Senior events, winning a gold medal at the 2015 Pan Am Games, taking a silver medal at the 2012 Pan American Olympic Qualifier in Florida and a bronze medal at the 2009 Pan American Championships.

There are three Pan American athletes who appear in the March UWW rankings. 2011 World silver medalist Franklin Gomez of Puerto Rico holds a No. 10 ranking, while Metcalf is at No. 17 and Venezuela’s 2016 Pan American Championships gold medalist Anthony Montero is ranked No. 18. Montero defeated World bronze medalist James Green of the USA in the finals of the Pan American Championships last week.

Gomez went to high school in the United States, and was an NCAA champion for Michigan State. He trains at the Nittany Lion WC in Penn State. Add into the mix Canadian Olympian Haislan Garcia, who has been successful for many years. Garcia was fifth in the 2010 World Championships and seventh in the 2012 Olympics. Garcia had a win over Metcalf in the finals of the 2012 Pan American Olympic Qualifier, but Metcalf has beaten him a number of times in the last few years.

Cuba brings a different athlete to this tournament than in recent major events, Alejandro Valdes, who was a 2014 Pan American Championships gold medalist at 60 kg and won a silver medal last week at the 2016 Pan American Championships competing up at 70 kg. He also had a 2010 Pan American Championships gold medal and wrestled twice for Cuba at the Senior World Championships. Metcalf has not faced this Cuban opponent in the past.

Two of the entries won Pan American Championships bronze medals competing up at 70 kg last week, Hernan Guzman of Colombia and Mauricio Sanchez of Ecuador. This weight is loaded with top talent including Metcalf, Gomez, Garcia and Valdes. Yet the draw could make it very interesting, especially if the more prominent athletes end up on the same side.

Jordan Burroughs won a gold medal for the United States at the 2015 World Championships and the USA is already qualified for the Olympics here. Although Burroughs entered last week’s Pan American Championships and won gold, the USA will not enter here this weekend. No other Pan American nation is qualified at this weight class.

The top star in the field coming in is Cuba’s Livan Lopez, who holds a No. 6 World ranking this month. Lopez is a proven medal winner at the major events. He was a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, and won three World medals, a silver in 2013 and bronzes in 2011 and 2014. In fact, the only World event he did not medal in during his career was the 2015 Worlds in Las Vegas, where he finished seventh and did not qualify his nation for the Rio Games. Lopez has been equally dominant in Pan American events, with a 2011 Pan American Games gold, and Pan American Championships titles in 2011 and 2016. Last week’s title came up a weight class at 86 kg.

One other athlete in the weight has a World ranking, Carlos Izquierdo of Colombia at No. 20, who was second behind Burroughs at the Pan American Championships last weekend and scored a takedown in that match. Izquierdo was fourth in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games.

The rest of the field is going to battle it out to see if one of them can make the finals and earn as spot in the Olympics. Cleopas Ncube of Canada was fifth in the 2014 World Championships at 70 kg and won the Canadian Olympic Trials. He won the 2011 Commonwealth Games and has a pair of Pan Am medals to his credit. Yoan Blanco of Ecuador was second in the 2015 Pan American Games. Pedro Soto of Puerto Rico is a veteran, with five Senior Pan American medals to his credit.

This weight class features a pair of past World medalists, 2009 World silver medalist Jake Herbert of the United States and three-time World medalist Reineris Salas of Cuba. It also boasts a 2012 Olympic silver medalist in Puerto Rico’s Jaime Espinal. In spite of that firepower, no Pan American nations are yet qualified at this weight class.

Currently, Salas is the only athlete in this field with a World ranking, coming in at No. 11 in the March UWW rankings just released. Salas and Herbert have a bit of history between them. Since Herbert came back from his two years away from competition, he lost twice to Salas, 4-8 in the Beat the Streets match and 7-12 at the 2015 Pan American Games. They had some meetings in the previous quad, when Salas beat him at a World Championships and at the Cerro Pelado International in Cuba. Their matches are often very intense and entertaining. Herbert has beaten Espinal in the previous Olympic quad, so these athletes are well acquainted with each other.

Last week, Salas went up to 97 kg and won a Pan American Championships silver medal, forfeiting in the finals. Peru’s Pool Ambrocio and the Dominican Republic’s Billy Valdez won Pan Am Championships bronze medals at 86 kg. Ambrocio boasts two Pan American Junior titles. Canada’s Tamerlan Tagziev has some past successes, including a 2014 Commonwealth Games gold and a bronze medal at the 2015 Pan American Games. Pedro Ceballos of Venezuela had two Pan American Junior Championships titles as well.

By winning the 2015 World gold medal in Las Vegas, Kyle Snyder qualified the USA for the Rio Olympics, so Team USA will have no entry at this weight class.

There is only one athlete from this field who has a UWW World ranking this month, Jose Diaz of Venezuela, who comes in at No. 11. Diaz won last week’s Pan American Championships, which gives him five past Pan American Senior-level medals in his career. Diaz also competed in the 2012 Olympic Games.

The most decorated athlete in the field is Cuba’s Javier Cortina, a 2014 World bronze medalist who won Pan American Championships gold medals in 2013 and 2014. Cortina also competed in the 2012 Olympic Games.

The rest of the field will be looking to make their mark, and perhaps knock off Diaz or Cortina on the way to the finals. Argentina’s top freestyle wrestler is veteran Yuri Maier, who has won four Senior Pan American medals as well as a number of age-group Pan American medals. Maier wrestled in the India Pro Wrestling League in December. Canada’s Arjun Gil was a 2014 Commonwealth Games champion and won a silver medal at the 2015 Pan American Games. Edgardo Lopez of Puerto Rico is a veteran who wrestles both freestyle and Greco-Roman and has a number of past Pan American medals. Nathaniel Rose of Trinidad and Tobago, a New York City native who was a New York state high school champion, now wrestles for the Univ. at Buffalo.

Clearly, the most decorated star in the field at this weight class is 2012 Olympian and two-time World bronze medalist Tervel Dlagnev of the United States. A Dallas-area native who went to high school in Arlington, Dlagnev should have a nice home crowd rooting for him. He was injured in 2015 and could not compete at the World Championships, replaced by Zach Rey who was not able to qualify the weight for the USA. Dlagnev has returned to the mat and wrestled overseas this winter, hoping for a clean bill of health in his run to make another Olympic team. Dlagnev has won three career Pan American Senior gold medals, including the 2011 Pan American Games.

Dlagnev has a No. 18 World ranking this month, one behind Venezuela’s Luis Vevenes, who is now ranked No. 17. Vivenes was third in last week’s Pan American Championships, and has a whopping 10 Pan American medals in his trophy case, with his first medal all the way back in 2004.

Cuba has a new heavyweight, Yudenny Alpajon, who was second in last week’s Pan American Championships. Canada has an experienced entry in Korey Jarvis, who was second at the 2015 Pan American Games behind Zach Rey, and was a 2014 Commonwealth Games champion. Mexico is represented by Jesse Ruiz, who wrestling in college at Menlo College and Santa Ana College in California. Brazil brings a true veteran in Antoine Jaoude, who won his first Pan Am medal at the 2003 Pan American Games and competed in the 2004 Olympic Games. Another Olympian in the field is Jarlys Mosquera, who wrestled in the 2008 Olympic Games.